BERLIN — For the world of literature, this year’s decision by the Nobel prize committee must be a bit of a surprise. After all, the short list was packed with heavyweights including Haruki Murakami, Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates. Yet it was the much less widely known Svetlana Alexievich from Belarus who carried the day for “her...

President Rosen Plevneliev has stressed the need of coordinated international action to tackle the migrant crisis.Speaking at an international forum in Sofia, Bulgaria’s head of state has warned that “every new piece of fence, two-way border blockades, barbed wire, water cannons and tear gas used against refugees – and this [is...

“We are doing some preparatory work on the Minsk-Odessa flight, undertaking an additional study into the demand for such a route. If it happens that the air service between Russia and Ukraine is discontinued, we will launch this flight as of 25 October,” Belavia’s representative said. …read more Source:...

Donald Trump has a friend in Crimea. More specifically, the mayor of Yalta, one of the disputed land mass’ resort cities, who would like the Republican presidential candidate to visit if he wins next year’s presidential election. “We are following the elections process in your country with great interest,” Andrey Rostenko wrote in a...

Jolly bombing weather RUSSIA’S behaviour in Syria resembles the fable of the scorpion who promises not to sting the frog that carries him across the river, but does so anyway—because it is his nature. The list of foreign powers stung by Russia continues to grow. This week Turkey protested after Russian fighters intruded into its airspace,...

THE crisis in Ukraine has been painful for nearly everyone involved. Russia finds itself under sanctions and at loggerheads abroad. NATO faces as grave a challenge as any since the cold war ended. And Ukraine itself, dismembered and drained by war, struggles to recover even as the fighting in the east of the country grinds to a halt. Yet one...

Russia’s rapid military build-up in Syria and provocative initial actions — including airstrikes focused on U.S.-supported anti-Assad rebels and incursions into NATO ally Turkey’s airspace — pose a serious challenge to three key American goals: stabilizing Syria, containing ISIL, and constructing a durable balance of power in the...

Belarusian writer and journalist Svetlana Alexievich won the 2015 Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday, with the Swedish Academy citing her “polyphonic writing, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” Alexievich, who had been one of the bookies’ favorites to win last year when the prize went to France’s Patrick Modiano,...

Turkey could receive the natural gas it needs from sources other than Russia, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday amidst mounting tensions between Ankara and Moscow over recent violations of Turkish airspace by Russian warplanes flying bombing missions in Syria, newswires reported. He also warned Russia that Turkey can find a...